Motion Picture Daily (Jul-Sep 1948)

194 Monday, August 9, 1948 Motion Picture Daily Seized 16mm. Prints Arrive in New York More than 10 16mm. prints of some 66 features recovered from a merchant seaman in San Francisco by the FBI ;and the U. S. attorney in that city ,have been received here from the Coast by the Army Motion Picture Service. Features of all major comyaa^es were among the seized pictures. "vV^he films were recovered as a result of an investigation by the FBI in cooperation with the industry's Copyright Protection Bureau. They were from among the thousands turned over by the film companies to the armed services as the industry's contribution to the war effort. Sargoy and Stein, special counsel to the industry in Copyright Protection Bureau matters, played a part in the recovery. Warner Holds Four 'Texas' Premieres Mort Blumenstock, Warner vicepresident in charge of advertisingpublicity, will return to New York today from the four-city world premiere engagements of the company's "Two Guys from Texas," in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and Oklahoma City. Each opening was preceded by an extensive campaign covering a radius of over 80 miles of each city. Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson and Dorothy Malone made personal appearances. Newspaper correspondents from over SO outlying cities covered the events. Wants Cleanliness, Humor in Film Fare Washington, August 8. — Rep. Clare Hoffman, Michigan Republican, inserted into the Congressional Record on Friday a long plea for "cleaner and more amusing pictures," declaring that the industry would be rewarded for such a program by larger box-office receipts. Hoffman commented on an article by Roy Norr, public relations counsel formerly with the Motion Picture Association of America, in Salute magazine entitled "The Man in Hollywood's Hottest Seat." Kirsch Heads Drive Chicago, August 8.— Jack Kirsch, Illinois Allied president, has accepted the post of chairman of the theatre and entertainment • division of the Community Fund Drive. Assisting him will be A. J. Shumow, Warner branch manager in Chicago. Appointments of sub-chairmen will be announced shortly. Citywide quota for the 1948 drive is $8,679,000. Review TOA Convention (Continued from page 1) Jack Kirsch, and George Kerasotes. Named from distributing companies were the following: James Donahue, J. Harold Stevens, Jack Lorentz, Tom Gilliam, H. Greenblatt, S. Gorelick, Bill Bishop, W. E. Banford, W. Devaney, R. Cramblet, N. Nathanson, Sam Horowitz, Harry Mandel, Ben Lowery, Harry Seed, A. J. Shumow, Irving Mandel, Ben Eisenberg, Ed Heiber, Clarence Phillips, Max Roth, Ed Spiers, M. Gottlieb, L. Berman, W. Baker, A. Fischer, and Henri Elman. A Friend Will Come Tonight (Lopert Films) THIS is definitely one of the lesser of the French films to come to the United States since the war's end. A worthy cast topped by Michel Simon, that sterling French thespian, proves impotent in raising the level of "A Friend Will Come Tonight" as entertainment. The picture runs much too long and is so full of glaring mistakes and illogical story developments that the considerable promise inherent in its basic plot is immediately lost. It is a strange tale of a group of maquis — French fighters of the underground — -who sought refuge in a lunatic asylum. Among them is the leader for the district. A young doctor turns out to be a German spy. The girl he is in love with and who does not suspect his identity revenges herself by revealing herself to be Jewish. Through it all, the underground fighters do their best to confuse the audience by acting most convincingly as lunatics. Simon is the only bright spot in the picture and even he is given dialogue that would stump the best actor. An A. C. G. C. (Paris) Production, the film was directed by Raymond Bernard, who in many instances threw continuity to the wind. Running time, 93 minutes. Adult audience classification. Current release. 'Monopoly' Quiz (Continued from page 1) part of the country, it was learned today. Several of the hearings will be in Allied States strongholds such as Minneapolis, Detroit and Kansas City. Allied has been working closely with the House group, pressing for a thorough investigation of the practices of the "big five." No hearings have been scheduled yet on the West Coast, so that the Society of Motion Picture Producers, which has also been working with the committee, may have to come to Washington to get the committee's ear. The schedule follows : September 3, Butte, Mont.; 8, Casper, Wyo. ; 11, Salt Lake City; IS, Kansas City, Mo.; 17, Omaha; 20-21, Minneapolis; 23, Madison, Wise. ; 27, South Bend. ; October 1-2, Detroit ; 5, Louisville ; 8, Oklahoma City ; and 12, Houston. Hearings in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Washington will be off until after the elections, it was understood. No witness list has yet been drawn up for any of the hearings, which will be conducted by a sub-committee headed by Rep. Stevenson (R., Wis.) Empire-U Writ (Continued from page 1) Otherwise the application to amend the writ is dismissed. The original action claimed $1,000,000 damages for alleged breach of contract and an additional $1,000,000 against nine defendants for allegedly inducing breach of contract and for conspiracy. Defendants comprise Rank, J. Arthur Rank Organization, General Cinema Finance Corp., Universal Pictures, International Pictures, United World Pictures of New York, EagleLion Films, Inc., Eagle-Lion Films of Canada and Canadian Monogram. Plaintiffs Empire-Universal Films and United World Pictures of Canada claim diversion of a group of Hollywood pictures to other companies for distribution in Canada and Newfoundland. U. A. Realignment (Continued from page 1) he and Sears left for Chicago on Friday for conferences at the UA office in that city, after which they will leave for the Coast for negotiations with Fox West Coast on deals for "Red River," "Pitfall" and "Time of Your Life." Mark N. Silver, who had been Pittsburgh, Washington and Philadelphia district manager, has been named assistant to Eastern division manager Schnitzer. Jack Wrege, formerly assistant to Maury Orr who resigned recently as Western division manager, will become assistant to Jack, and act as his representative at the home office. Clayton Eastman has resigned as district manager for Boston, New Haven and Buffalo. Kaufman Quits U-I Hollywood, August 8. — J. L. (Les) Kaufman, advertising director of International Pictures prior to its merger with Universal, resigned this weekend from his post with Universal-International. He was previously associated with Republic and Fanchon and Marco. Must Open Books in Percentage Actions Judge John C. Knox on Friday granted Loew's and RKO Radio the right to inspect books and records of Rhinehook Theatres and Millerton Amusement Corp. in the percentage suits brought here by the two distributors. The period covered is January, 1942, to January, 1948. The court also granted a similar motion to Loew's in a percentage suit against the Stern-Levy circuit. Silberberg Signs Hoffman Nathan Silberberg, Palestine film distributor who is entering production in Palestine, has concluded a contract with Julian Roffman to direct his first feature to be filmed in Palestine, using all Palestinian acting talent. It will be bi-lingual using English and Hebrew. Production is scheduled to begin early in the fall. Silberberg will leave New York late this month for Tel-Aviv. 'Carmen' Promotion Set A pattern has been devised for promoting Columbia's "The Loves of Carmen," with leaders in many fields not associated with motion pictures to be identified with various phases of the campaign, principally in merchandise tieups with manufacturers. Walkout Is Halted at MGM Elstree Studio London, August 8. — Operations at M-G-M's> Elstree Studio have resumed fo'llowing last week's unexpected walkout of 70 members of the Electrical Trades Union. The strike was called off after union officials conferred with the strikers and then with the studio management. Normal negotiations between union officials and management have been resumed with the latter insisting that two ETU members over whom the dispute arose were justifiably dismissed because of their continued refractory behavior. Suspend Sales Pact Talks for 10 Days Negotiations for the first national salesmen's contract with 11 distributors have been suspended to allow the Colosseum of Motion Picture Salesmen and the distributors committees to give an interim report to their respective organizations. Meetings on the pact will be continued in about 10 days. IATSE Meeting (Continued from page 1) scheduled to hold 14 district conventions at the Hollenden on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, prior to the start of the International gathering. ; Walsh, pointing out that sponsors of the Taft-Hartley Act gave a distorted picture as to the power of labor leaders in America, has publicly invited members of the 80th Congress to attend the convention. "They will find," he said, "that the duly-elected delegates are our supreme government." Joseph D. Keenan, head of Labor's League for Political Education, will be among the speakers for repeal of the law. Problems facing labor on an international scale will be brought into focus through the presence of Tom O'Brien, member of the British Parliament and general secretary of that country's National Association of Theatrical and Kine Employes. Along with Walsh, who visited England last summer, he will report on the interchange of British and American technical workers. New Italian Film Here American and Canadian rights to "The Spirit and the Flesh," described as the first post-war romantic Italian picture, has been purchased by Variety Film Distributors, New York. AFL Invades CIO (Continued from page 1) file with the NLRB an affidavit certifying, as required by the Taft-Hartley Law, that none of its officers are Communists. This has deprived the union of access to NLRB advantages. Involved in the Paramount unit are approximately 600 employes. Included are employes of Famous Music Co. and Long Island Laboratories, both Paramount subsidiaries. Aiding Moss in the Paramount organizational drive are Joe Conlon, H-63 organizer, and James Rogers, "IA" international organizer. I.C. Oes Art in Exhibition George Jensen's Fifth Avenue art gallery in New York is currently exhibiting a display of paintings by Ingvald C. Oes, film industry pioneer of 40 years, starting in 1908 with Nordisk Film Co. in Copenhagen. He opened Paramount's offices in the Scandinavian countries and for years was that company's Scandinavian publicity director. He has since retired to paint.